To celebrate its Platinum Jubilee, the Reserve Bank of India’s Jammu and Kashmir branch had to cross the world’s highest motorable road in the Ladakh region as it selected Hunder village to mark the occasion. The officers interacted with a cross-section of the people to make them aware about banking at large.

The ten-member team, led by J & K’s Regional Director Arnab Roy highlighted the role of RBI in banking and asked the people in this remote village, close to Siachen base camp, to get benefited with the revolutionary schemes of the government which were made available through banks.

Accompanied by H. Kulshrestha, Banking Ombudsman for northern India, and Ravinder Kaul, Lead District Officer, Mr. Roy interacted with senior citizens, pensioners, school children and people in general. An information stall in the ongoing Ladakh Festival was also installed.

Representatives of various banks made available all sorts of bank products to the villagers and joined hands to ensure full financial inclusion in the area. Grievance redressal mechanism prevailing in the banking industry was explained in detail, including the Banking Ombudsman scheme, Mr. Kaul told The Hindu adding that a session regarding features of genuine currency notes was organised in which films were shown to explain in detail the salient features of a good currency note. The inspiration to choose this remote village, according to Mr. Kaul, came from a concept note regarding the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of RBI, conceived by its Governor D. Subbarao and distributed among all the offices of the bank a few months ago. In the note, the RBI Governor underscored the need to organise ‘extensive outreach events across the country’ so that ‘it continues to make a positive difference in the life of every Indian’.

The RBI, which began its operations on April 1, 1935, will be completing its 75 years of existence on April 1, 2010, marking a major milestone in the history of the bank.

Just a few kilometers downstream from the confluence of river Siachin and river Shyok, village Hunder in Nubra valley in Ladakh is located at a distance of 125 km from Leh town and across Khadungla Pass which, at 18,380 feet, is the highest motorable pass in the world.